for this right. we are not going to let anyone take it away, no matter which way the polls go, this is not just about your candidate or mine, this is about america deciding whether it's going to be a natn f the few at the top or a nation for everyone. let history say, you showed up and recorded what side you're on. thanks for watching. i'm al sharpton. ardbl" starts right now. romney losing his bearings. les play "hardball." good evening. i'chris matthewsn washington. let me start with this. why do we have such long campaigns for president? because it's a tryout a chance to not just kick the tires, not just to look under the hood, but to actually take the car out for a drive. over the past several weeks this

country has experienced what lbeinarh mitt romney. we've felt the swerves, the sudden shifts, the abrupt stops and reverses, the reckless changes of lanes, the slipping and the sliding. there's more road ahead, of course, including three debates, but we're getting a sense that this guy doesn't know exactly where he's going or even on how to drive this car. and the big question is, why is he having such a tough time? why does he seem, dare we say it, confused? could it be because he doesn't know where he's trying to take cahesnnoer wants to go? as david axelrod said, campaigns arlike an mri for the soul, whoever you are, eventually peopleind t. joining me now are the two men who wrote the book that resulted in a sweep of four emmys this

week, "game change" authors john heilemann of "new york magazine" and mark halperin of "time." gentlemen, thank you for joining us. righnow never has mitt romney's ability to shape shift been more on display than yesterday. it involved health care reform, the issue he can't decide whetheto run from or embrace, so he did both in the sa day. in an interview with n'son n,neid hh plan up in massachusetts, the one that the obama plan is modeled after, shows his compassion. let's listen. >> throughout this campaign as well we've talked about my record in massachusetts. don't forget, i got everybody in dsouatveltnsured, 100% of the insurance. i don't think there's anything that shows more empathy and care about the people of this country thhandre. >> well, shortly after that, very shortly, a matter of two hours or so, romney spoke before a toledo, ohio, crowd to

decemaffblcare act which is based on his massachusetts plan. let's listen. >> i will repeal obama care and replace it with real health care refo. obama care is really exhibit number one of the president's political philosophy, and that is that government knows better vean people how to run their >> well, there you have it. i think -- i don't know what you can say. he's talking to ron allen, a straight news reporter. this is the third episode here in a matter of hours. at a univision for last week, romney admitted he'd take credit for obama care except during the primaries. rorm.cehe now and then the president says i'm the grandfather of obama care. i don't think he meant that as a compliment, but i'll take it. this was during my primary. we thought it might not be helpful. >> well, there you have it, ma, and then john. speakingo a raig new rteror n, al h saomngt'pporve of what he did in massachusetts. then before a partisan crowd, he takes it back and lashes out at obama care. and then before a group he assumes to be a bit more liberal, he goes back in favor of it again saying, i take that

not as a compliment, but i'll accept it anyway. aneryou , what is this guy? he's like a bobble head. >> well, i've not been as dubious about the notion of yo coulbe a ctainyp pocythatvet not think it's a good idea for washington to do it, but when you extend the rhetoric to the morality of covering all children and the morality of universal heth care, then i think it's a harder case to make, and, you know, governor romney igetting a lot of criticism in the pre, so evn cel i separate the two types of criticism. the kind you're talking about comes not just from journalists or pundits but almost any republican we know who is not on mitt romney's payroll will tell you at that just not the kind of inconsistency that he can afford at this poi given thdefici he faces. youthouts, hn >> well, look, chris, i just

think he's in an untenable positi, and he has been all along. the bottom line on mitt romney is he's proud of his massachusetts health care law. there's part of him that wants to defend it, there's part of him that's always wanted to defend it, and he found himself running in a republican primary where he couldn'defend it as forthrightly as i think what his heart would have wanted to do. so he twisted himself up in a lot of knots. i think there's someheorical wain wch y c ma ra aenut ha mth argument consistently either. he should ha stood up and said the individual mandate is a conservative policy. it was invented at the heritage foundation and embraced by conservatives as recently as a decade a. he could have made the argumen for health ce ansaidhat' what the conservative position was. he didn't have the guts to do that. he's ended up in this bizarre sition where he's had to pirouette on this crazy tightrope where he says my law is gat, t thfedel la which the core element of which is the individual mandate, is bad. it's not intellectually tenable, and it's politically ridiculous. >> here he is doing it again on the tax issue.

he pushed the idea that the president raised tes. here he tries to make the point usinhiinterpretati of e sueme urlin a . >> by the way, the president has now raised taxes on the middle class as so determined by the supreme court. >> and then this week romney mangles his message by saying oba didn't raise taxes in his t bign second term. >> he's got one new idea. i admit he has one thing he did not do in his first four years he said he's going to do in the next four years which is raise taxes. >> which is it, mark? hedi h i about to and hasn't yet? >> i will probably have a more charitable interpretation. >> your interpretation is the one we want. >> my sensis he was talking about raising marginal tax res rather than raising any taxes. >> that's charitable, you're

right. >> i will say a version of what i said before. he's not at the point where he can afford either to create distractions through loose rhetoric or to have a muddled messe doesn't give people a sense of where his heart is, as you said at the beginning. i'm just amazed that at this stage -- he's been a candidate for five years now -- that he's stiljust being that sloppy in a way that distracts from trying to dve aessa tco heime hes he has now. >> jack kennedy once said about dick nixon, i feel sorry for the guy because he doesn't know which dick nixon to be on any particularay. he wants the support of the tea party crowd. eehem, john d ma, but he would never be a tea party person. he wouldn't show up at a yahoo kind of politics we don't like government. he's not been a life long foreign policy hawk, but he wants the support of the neocon community out there. he wants people who are hawkish. he's not a member of the religious right.

ivtyharowi r arod liberty jerry falwell, but he wants their support. he's not really a ryan publican ideologue convictio politician, but he put him on the ticket. isn't that the fundamental problem wi the guy? he wants to date these people through the election. he wants their support, but he doesn't want to be one of them. he doesn't want to marry them. is that true? >> yes. okchri i t hs a suit to ing the republican nominee given what the republican party currently is. and you could say that on a bunch of different levels. it's an evangelical party and he's a mormon. it's a southern and western -- southern and western party, he's a northeasterner. 's a populist party. he'sore or less an tablishmentarian. heanted say barack obama haileds coc arnd ainguy and so i know how to create jobs. and as soon as that fell away, as soon as people started to think that the economy was doing better, as soon as people started to think that this was about policies for the future and not just about a referendum

on t past, he's found himself adrift in terms of what the message is he wants to hue to and he does feel as though this is a base election and he needs to stir up the republican se, and he doesn't have the kind of natural connection to that base that some of his -- manyther people in the party, some of the people he ran against and some of whom he didn't run against, have. >> is ate,ark,hat e bl -- to be the republican nominee this year looked like several months back just not be obama, just be a republican, and it's gotten tougher because somehow, maybe because of the clinton speech in charlotte or what economic numbers slightly changing perhaps, you have to make a bigg casthan'm just no obama. >> well, i think that the case which they did at the republican convention in what turned out to be a stray remark, was to think what makes you think the next fourearsill betfo you than the first four years of an obama presidency? i think that the economy -- you can look at some macrostatistics and say things are better in some ways, but i think there are still people who have a lot of dot about what's goingo haen n

tao odo oi fogroups now and ask people in groups, what does the president plan to do in another four years? people don't know. and so mitt romney still has an opportunity, i think, to not only say -- >> you can say t same about ry. ouldu d, t president has got a record of four years that a lot of americans aren't happy with. he's not coming close to driving that message. he's still doing one event a day. still more likely to do a bad television interview that says nothing or creates a negative story or has some old videpop out. this is not left wing pundits or reporters who don't like mitt romney. this is what every republican i talk to sayg, satch r sg hocan he continue to waste another day? i'm looking at my calendar every day, when is he going to win a single news cycle? >> i would argue more positive for obama and say he's doubled the stock market, he's taken t unemployment rate from double digits down to eight. if hdoeshat ain,ll ke idown to six. if you want to say i'll take it down two or three points further, just stay on that continuum. let's take a look at this. a new obamcampaign ad just put out a powerful ad airing in swing states that uses romney's

own words against him. let's listen to this. >> there are 47% othe people who wi ve for e prident noteat who are dependent upon government, who believe that they're victims, who believe that government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they're entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you name it and they will vote for this president no matter what. and so my job is not to worry about those people. i wi never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives. >> what do you think of that ad, guys? you first, mark. >> you know, wn the video first came out of governor romney talking, wasnur itlde nglfe, but it has a lot of resonance with voters, certainly has a lot of resonance with the chattering class, and that ad is subtle, but it draws -- they clearly think it's going to draw on the feelings that a lot of voters have and an awareness that a lot of voters have and particularly on a day when governor romney is trng to drive the message e tandpoor

to feature some people from the military in that spot, this is going to be a thing they come back to again and again and i'll say i don't think governor romney has dealt with it effectively. you can't go out and assert that you care about people. you've got tdo something i think at shows people an otional and concrete and naay hnolv thatet amongst the problems he still has to solve. >> yeah. your thoughts, john? what i like about it is it shows poverty and working poor, the working poor phenomenon in this country where you work very hard but don't make enough to live i csiioonpoverty leve is t it creates a larger notion of another america out there that's much more diverse and much more realistic, i think. your thoughts, john. >> chris, i agree with that. i will also say there's nothing more powerful th a nivad th usethbue s from the person who -- out of the mouth of the person who the is attacking. you know, you think about the way that tina fey set up sarah palin on "saturday night live"

four years ago by literally saying the things that she said in an interview with katie coic. thoswere w. di htote script. in this same case the 47% thing i think is devastating. and mark talked about the people -- we talk to people all the time who are doing focus groups on the republican side and democratic side. this is cutting with voters. voters think there's something that's toxic here and there's a reason why this is the third ad the obama campaign has put up on this 47% thing. they're putting up those ads because they're working d this adn particar ihinkecau ittney's own voice is just a sign of exactly how much trouble that videotape continues to cause him in places where it matters. >> and, john and mark, i also think it counts when he makes references, not the biggest thing in the world but telling when he says we're not going to let people just die in their apartments, people that dot we're going to pick them up and get them to the hospital. the idea that everybody who is poor lives in some urban apartment when there's people all across the area who aren't covered by health insurance today even though they're working 40 hours a week. these are little things that just inject a certain narrow view of what the problem is that ist really completat a. thank you mark and john. coming up, how do you spot a campaign in trouble? when you hear reporters --

actually supporters say it's still early or you should see our internal polling. well, you can bet in those cases the candidate is probably headed for defeat. right now the gop is trotting outhe granddaddy of all excuses, the polls are wrong. alof them. we're going to talk about the lf-dusio rli popping up right now. also, breaking up is hard to do. the republican party broke up wi missouri's dd akin after his legitimate rape comments, but still within striking distance of claire mccaskill. the gop may have decided it's better to live with the author of legitimate rape than to have the democrats retain control of the senate. and which republican wld democrats most like to pick off in november? here are a few. michele bachmann, joe walsh, allen west. with polls moving their way, democrats are daring to dream of delivering them from evil. finally, let me finish

tot mvo teachers wife and how much she wants to vote and how the new pennsylvania voter photo law is stopping her from voting. this is "hardball," the place for politics. ] they can be enlightening. hey, bro. or engaging. conversations lp us learn and grow. at wells fargo, we belve you can veunderestim the power of a conversation. it's this exchange of ideas that helps you move ahead with confidence. so when the conversation turns to your financial goals... turn to us. if you need anything else, let me know. [ female announcer ] ells fargo. the'l f turn to us. if you need anything else, let me know. there's natural gas under my town. it's a game changer. ♪ it means cleaner, cheaper american-made energy. but we've got to be careful how we get it. design the wells e safe. tanf . use the most advanced technology to protect our water. billions in the economy. at chevron, if we can't do it right, we won't do it at all.

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wing radio and television pundits have gone wild with the new republican talking thought, the polls are wrong. pay no attention to wh you're seeing or what you're hearing, that obama is up. according to some on fox a elsewhere, the pollstersre a in trentacck aney'ttrd, including fox's polls apparently. here is dick morris staggering even sean hannity on fox news this week. >> as he's at the moment in a very strong position. i believe if the election were held today, romney would winy four or five points. i believe he would carry fla,o,gi i ev w c na. i believe he would carry pennsylvania. >> oh, come on. >> pennsylvania, and i believe he would be competitive in michigan. people need to understand that the polling this year is the worst it's evebeen because is ie t tihe if i tell you who is going to vote, i can tell you how they're going to vote. the models these folks are using are crazy. they assume a democratic edge of

six or seven points. >>e're a wro in is business, we make mistakes. he's the only guy i know who knows he's wrong when he says this stuff, dick morris. in theyes of republicans, it's that the polls are conspiring to bring him down. michael tomay, special copot "nee ann anan msnbc political analyst and author of "my father at 100." ron, you have to start with you. you're a sympathetic voice when it comes to common sense, and why would anybody ever, ever, evero mat mother pays them ever no matter ever listen to what dick morris has to say about anything, especially when he says all the polls, including fox's own polls, are not to be trusted because he doesn't like the mbers, he doesn't like what they're saying this week. >> it's true that you sometimes imagine that back in the

republican green room there's this giant crack pipe that they're all hitting on constantly, hitting it hard, but, you know, listen -- >>t's time to say don't bogart that, moiscae i k he's been on that pipe longer than most. just a thought. >> he bought the pipe i think and brought it into the room. but let's not give them too much credit here. i mean, yes, it's true -- >> i'm n -- - rande o, no. the rank and file actually believes some of this nonsense. they believe that evolution didn't happen, global warm something a hoax obama is a kenyan, but people like dick morris and sean hannity, they know better than that, and there's a method to their madness. they're not delusional, they're

diont. they're not crazy, they're craven. >> i hate to say it, ron, but i believe that sean hannity is as smart as me or anybody else but he says stuff on t air that throws red meat out r that c blig stuff. >> very briefly, what they're trying to do here and accomplish here is to say in advance if president obama winshis lls re t, it's becausehe republican vote, it's, therefore, an illegitimate election, he's not really president. they're setting the table for that. >> okay. let me go to mike tomasky. you're nonpartisan. i don't know what your politics are. it seems to me they could say something else. they could say this week we're behind two othree, within the margin of error but these debateare going to be important. thers a lot of differentays dthsebeha >> dl is what they do, and work up their base is what they do, chris. that's how -- they define their movement in large part by their enemies. >> so the couple on the cage here? >> they are but i'm not entirely sure that hannity doesn't believe some of this stuff himself. you know --

>> you have a low estimate of his iq. i have a higher estimate. your thoughts, but go ahead. >> look, pollsters aren't gog to stack the deck on who is -- what they're complaining about is the sampling, how many democrats are in this poll and how many republicans are in this poll and it is true, they have one little smidgeon of a point. it is true a lot of these polls have been showinmore democrats than republicans, but this is the misunderstanding or the -- >> more democrats than pteskpl ts exist or what? their poll -- let me back up -- >> but isn't the latest polling showing there is lower republican i.d. in the last six months? there's a reduction in the number of people who say i'm a republican? >> that's what it's showing. these conservatives are trying to say it's intentional, a setup by "the new york times" and all these other pollsters, but that's nonsense. >> wre is thiseeting stgege?w ahe don't they compete with each other to prove they're right? this is something, ron, that's very important. poll something like rating services, like we are all governed here by. they get paid to be right. they get paid by sponsors at local affiliates like abc in boston or whatever, any local station down here, right wrdown here, they pay pollsters be righ y uld u haolrs weeiai sod

be wrong? they have clients. >> it's a mystery, but we do know that some polling outfits tend to favor republicans and some tend to favor democrats. rasmussen, for instance, which is a polling outfit that typically has romney with higher numbers than say ppp or me of the others -- >> that's why we call it the tlier. >> that's right. but that's the one the republicans cite all the time. they say the rasmussen poll has us dead even and the other half a dozen or dozen polls, they don't count. >> we're going underwater. now to youpoint, rush limbaugh warned this week that pollsters are conspiring -- i can't do the voice. conspireing touppress republican voters. let's hear his indignation. here is the underwater wall russ himself, rush limbaugh. >> they are designed to do exactly what i have warned you to be vigilant about, and at is to depress you and suppress v thtwlltoday are designed to convince everybody that election is over. there could be a lot of reasons for this, voter suppression, voter depression set up the

possibility of allegations of voter fraud. >> speaking of depression, where did you get that shirt? it looks like the deviidea of an nfl ref's uniform. mike tomasky, why is hdoing this? the pollsters are getting you, but i'm for you. >> it's all about the enemies. it starts with the liberal media. and now it extend to the pollsters. the pollsters are supposedly rigging these things. in fact, what the voter i.d. in those polls is showing, it's showing that the republican party, that fewer and fewer people who are being called thespollwanto ca >> what happened there in six months to make them not do that? what's real? i think it's the republican house -- >> a bad candidate, the republican house, a party that's gone way off into the right, to la la land, and a bad mocratic convention and this

video. >> middle of the road and slightly conservative people i grew up with in the suburbs d york, they have seen that party flipping over to the crazy side. thank you, michael, and i think the president has been good at positioning himself much closer to the center than they'd like, the other party. ron reagan, you're great. i love your sense of humor. you're great. >> thanks. >> that's why i said it, people, you're great. our case is . exeow.h s in an embarrassing place for mitt romney. wait until you catch this. find out where he's speaking like right before the election day, george w., just to bring the house down. this is "hardball," the place for politics. [ mother ] you can't leave the table

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stpickinup some, oes, ster copies of my acceptance speech. great! it's always good to have a backup plan, in case i get hit by a meteor. wow, your hair looks great. didn't realize they did photoshop here. hey, good call on those mugs. can't let 'em see what you're drinking. you know, i'm glad we're both running a nice, clean race. o ed to get nasty.d here's your "honk if you had an affair with taylor" yard sign. looks good. [ male announcer ] fedex office. now save 50% on banners. back to "hardball." there are a few things the romney campaign doesn't want to talk about. sont wner ho take responsibility for their lives, tax returns, investments in the cayman islands. well, we're all seeing those come back from all sides.

first, to the late night scene and some revamped campaign ads for romney. here is david lettmaon the release of romney's tax returns. >> mitt romney released his 2011 tax returns, and that's not all. take a look. >> last week republican presidential candidate mitt romney released his 2011 income taxes and after numerous requests mitt has also decided to release his tax forms from the last 20 years. >> there you go. >> i'm mitt romney. j kl ok on romney's attempt to convince voters he can empathize with struggling americans in the aftermath of those comments on the 47of

americans he said don't even take care of their lives. >> too many americans are struggling to find work in today's economy. too many of those who ar working are living paycheck to paycheck. more americans are living in poverty than when president obama took off, and 15 million more are on food stamps. my plan will create 12 million new jobs over the next four years. we shouldn'teasure compassion by howany people are on welfare. we should measure compassion by how many people are able to get off welfare and get a good paying job. i'm mitt romney, and i approve this message. >> lobster. anyway, noshifting to jobs. ipthngegng jo plan into a knock at his opponent? well, here he is in ohio yesterday. >> let me repeat the plan that i have put forward, practical,

specific five-point an to grow our middle class, create strong jobs. first thing is i want to see us export morjobs -- export more prodts. excuse me. s ne mpo there for a second. >> well, that was a quick save. anyway, the obama campaign has continually argued that ba capital, which romney ran as ceo, invested in companies that moved jobs overseas. our last president was absent in tampa ta about a perfect storm. where will "w" be five days before the election? you won't believe this, headlining an ternative investment event in the cayman islands along with sir richard branson. the cayman alternative investment summit is a hub for business people and investors to usd otfs

investments, a place where democrats will point out romney a right at home. bush is the keynote speaker on the event's first night, november 1st. what a favor "w" is doing romney here. up next, the republican party bailed on missouri's todd akin after his legitimate rape comments. with akin hanging tough against claire mccaskill, the republicans may be willing to live with akin if it helps them win control of the senate. apparently that's what's going on. you're watching "hardball," the ace for politics. they can help, buceesh s. ...nothing transforms schools like investing in advanced teacher education. let's build a strong foundation. let's invest in our teachers so they can insre our students. let's solve this. for the spender who needs a little help saving. for adding "& sons." for the dreamer, planning an early escape.

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here's what is happening. israel prime minister netanyahu said that iran could have enough enriched uranium to build a bomb by nexmm the maker of the islamic film was hauled into court regarding

whether he violated probation. he's prohibited from using the internet without permissio and barred from using aliases. now ba to "hardball." welcome back to "hardball." remember last month after todd akin made this comment? >> it seems to me, first of all, om what i undersnd from doctors, that's really rare. if it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. >> they tried to shut him down. republicans from mitt romney and paul ryan to sarah palin, sean hannity, and rush limbaugh all urged akin to get out of the race after he said that. karl rove's american crossroads supepac pulled their money from him and while talkingo donors, rove made this, his ining at akin was do to the party crystal clear.

he said we should sink todd akin. if he's found mysteriously murdered don't look for my whereabouts. that's karl. the national republican senate committee also pulled funds from akin's race. its chairman, john cornyn of texas, said last week, just last week, he had a simple answer on their involvemt with akin going forward. he told "the hill" newspaper, quote, we're done. well, that was then, this is now. the adne for akin to rove himself from the ballot has passed, anslly rublins reine wa iu cat that. the national republican senate committee, for example, said yesterday, as with every republican senate candidate, we hope todd akin wins in november, and we will continue to monitor his race closely in the days ahead. so have republicans decided akin isn't as bad as they once thought? bob shrum is a democratic strategist, john feehery is a ntn, have to give a little bit of help there to feehery because this may be his hardest test yet. but let's go to you, shrum, because i ke the way you

punch. a any better now, is he, than he was right after he said that, politically speaking. your thoughts. >> and he's done more. the republicans were in the midair phasef this flip-flop to say they were going to reconsider when he criticized and attacked claire mccaskill for not being ladylike. they're reconsidering for severareasons. one, romney is fading. o, t pspec of controlling the senate are fading. and, three, they were getting a lot of pressure from the tea party folks, from people like jim demint, from newt gingrich, rick santorum, as if those guys hadn't done enoughor the republican party already this ar bforcing romney way to the right. decision politically and practically for republicans to make. first, it's going to cost a lot of money if they go back i they canceled all the air time. to buy the spots now would cost five or six times more than the money that they already had there in the first pla. secoly, 's n polical mi romney or for their senate and house candidates to be associated in any way with

this guy. they already have a huge gender gap. look, he didn't drop out. the voters are going to drop him in november, and maybe feehery wi tell me he dissents from this, and i'm sure he does, but privately a lot of republicans will say this guy can't win. >> the news here today, you referred to how he referred to this -- this is todd an -- how he referred to his democratic opponent, the incumbent senator aire mccaskill. let's look at this, what he said today and why it may be a problem for him. he said, quote, she, and that was his opponent, was very aggressive at the debate this ffent is shi was qte ran against jim talent. she had a confidence and was much more ladylike back then. but in the debate on friday, she came out swinging. i think that's because she feels

threatened. sometimes i wonder whether we're too tough, but, you know, this idea that women have to hit their golf ball from the ladies politically, that somehow they have to be ladylike in a tough inthat sti a nwaton, do yo oupo politically if they're a female, that they have to be ladylike? does anybody say you have to be a gentleman in politics these days? i'm just asking,ohn feehery. is this okay? go ahead. >> iwoul nifwe all gentlemen and if they were ladies and all the whole nine yards, but ladies punch just as hard as men in politics. >> shodn't they? >> of course they should. tndthy, m reason we're talking about this race is claire mccaskill is

still in a pretty weak position. i would give her the edge at winning, but i thi akin has very good shot at winnin otrwis wldn'cares . put in the best candidate they could, and it was not akin at the time. they wished they would have got him out of there and had someone else in, but now they've got him, they've got to stick with him, and he still has a retively decent shot of incacl mki is still very weak. >> well, let's check on that. let'take a look at the ad they put together. th is ad at the american bridge, the democratic group, has put out against him. i think it displays the fact th guy proem w

be sg n no be trust on charges of rape and things like that. this goes over the whole issues of this guy's vulnerability. i want bob to jump on it and then you respond. let's listen to this ad. >> social security through the years for many, many people has been a terrible investment. it's really a tax is all it is. social security is a tax. >> are you saying for younger people there will be some privatization of it or not? >> well, if it were up to me, yes, i think that that's a good idea. is bill is called the hate crimes bill. this bill increases hatred i er abortionists, terrorists, privatized hate crimes lead to hate. it's a long list that suggests this guy is not what i would call a mainstream conservative republican even. >> for once i want to second whate th oious wanted a different senate candidate and then after he made the comments -akin made the comments about legitimate rape, a lot of people, as you said, romney, ryan, corn anyone, the whole repuic establishment said, weon'tano support this guy. he should drop out. he can drop out until september 25th. september 25th passed. things have not been going okay

for the gop. people saying that we ha to double down and help this guy. look, does he have some cnce to win? look, i think it's very small. in the end when the people see all this stuff, they are going to see all of this stuff and how extreme he is, he's going to have a very, very hard time. i also think, by the way, nobody is talking about this. the polls have nwe substantially. >> quickly, john, how do you justify calling abortion an act of terrorism where it's the woman normally who makes the call to get the procedure done? whatever you thin we'll be arguing about this the rest of r lives. but ty ca iteis how you justify that? >> chris, i'm pro life. >> yeah, but would you call it terrorism if a woman -- >> i don't use those terms but i'm pro life. going back to todd akin, he still has a shot. i think cire mccaskill is a wecaat i wad a better candidate but we don't.

a lot of conservative groups are going to support akin and missouri is still a conservative state and i think he has a 49.5% chance of winning this thing. >> do you think he should be in the u.s. senat >> lten,hafoe pe so to decide. >> no, do you think he should be in the senate? >> i would have voted for somebody else in the primary. >> sara steelman, probably. nice dodge there, by the way. don ds baan b shrum, thank you. let me give you a slew, michele bachmann, there he is, joe walsh, allen west. what a group. they have new reasons to be hopeful. this is "hdball," a pce f ti

the presidentl race is being fought in handful of states and top fin out where the real action is, check out th t atike whthre sing the most dollars. number five, right here in washington, d.c., reaching the criticalorthern suburbs of virginia. number four, tampa, florida, and st. pete. number three, cleveland. mberwo iorlao, ao in or thpke tee for ads, madison, wisconsin, one of the great places in the 1960s to be in. we'll be right back. [ male annncer ] you want family dinner to be special.

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you could have a tighter family. ♪ wells fargo. together we'll go far. we're back. most this campaign season is understandably been focused on the presidency. but democrats are beginning to dream. what if? what if they can pick off some of the tea party boogiemen and women who have come to represent the worst of right wing extremism since the tea party chbannjoe walsh, steve king, allen west. oh, democrats think, wouldn't it be loverly? with me now, jim graves, running against michele bachmann. and nina li henderson. stay with us. we're going to show you how we created her. she was our frankenstein's monster, you might say. i want you to look at this and tell me how you're going to deal with this person and defeat her.

how many people in the congress ofhe united states dyou u'lr sctar ama. is he alone? are there others? how many do you suspect of your colleagues as being anti-american? >> what i would say, what i would say is that the news media should do a penetrating expose and take a look. i wish they would. i wish t american media would take a gat loo at the v of pe in congress and find out, are they pro-america or anti-america? i think people would be -- would love to see an expose like that. >> well, mr. graves, i hate to admit, i shirked on that response but have not conducted a joe mccarthy-styl pbe i m smroer of the loyalty of the democratic members of congress. what do you make of having an opponent like that? what would you make hay out of that crazy comment? >> krirchris, i'll tell you, it started on your channelnd show, sh kgo kps going. she'ses actually coming after me. she likes to tread on fear and

separation. that's her whole mantra. and i think it's getting old. >> okay. let's take a look at mr. joe walsh in illinois and how he's going after his actual female opponent, an injed w tera wod. s ak at how he's going after tammy duckworth. >> understand something about john mccain. his political advisers day after day had to take him and almost t agt the head and heal a say, senator, you have to let people know you served, you have to talk about what you did. he wouldn't -- he didn't want to do it. wouldn't do it. now, i'm running against a woman who, i mean, my god, that's all she talks about. our true hero,ennd wo w sved us, it's the last thing in the world they talk about. >> you know, i don't even get -- i've never seen such bad taste iny life. this woman lost her legs in the service of our country in combat, nia, and to mock her for

that onlying ingcoming up inhe i n'no new rules are. your thoughts? >> this is one of the reasons he's behind in polls and republicans are privately conceding that he will probably lose this race. he has gotten a bit of a lifeline thrown to him by the congressional committee. they put $450,000 into this race. he's going to be ablun me u eio day. duckworth has ads out now that she her ride a bike and talk about the fact she'll go to washington and very much fight for her constituents there in that district. but you're right, there are a lot of these below the belt comments that i think some of these tea party folks have made that are n coming back to bite them. i think they've done well for themselves in terms of filling campaign coffers. michele bachmann has $12 million in the bank, allen west about $ $10 million. they're having to run against the words that to someeopl b t you, jim graves. what happened to minnesota, the

country of humphrey and mondale and reasonable people. how did it get so far right to think that michele bachmann was the voice of saty? >> she treads onerbase telo oy,he g a lot of advertising out there. at the end of the day the people of minnesota understands she's not representing them. they understand she doesn't speak the truth. it's coming around to roost. she's going to lose this election because she jt can't come up with anything that really makes any sense to the pele. she doesn't resonate with the folks. 'setti anor president. she did 15 debates. she won't do one with me. until after the election. she's afraid of the truth. she's running. and i think it's catching up with her, chris. >> okay. we made her name here. anyway, thank u very much, jim graves running against mhele a-kade n. "washington post." when we return, let me finish with the new voter photo i.d. law in pennsylvania and how it's keeping my favorite teacher's wife from voting. ♪

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intellectually. thanks to her husband she keeps up with the news. she holds the newspapers up for her to read. she's very eager to vote this year. therein lies the proble nnanawherohe by republicans in the legislature requires to get an ansonty ballot, needed in this case, you need to produce a government-issued photo i.d. think about the obstacles. mr. trembly would have to take his wife to the penndot headquarters, his wife being a stroke victim, to get the i.d. law the new law requires. we have no idea if this is the kind of person the gop lawmakers in harrisburg were out to keep from voting. we know predicament created for her, a consequence of their slick move in the words of a top republican in pennsyaniain the legislature, to deliverhe onltct v to romney. i would think this case is a good example of why justice requires action by the courts to stop this unfair new law from taking effect barely a month from now. what didn't say is jerry